1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, a method of controlling the same, and a storage medium, and more particularly to a printing apparatus equipped with a wireless communication function.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there have been used printing apparatuses, such as copying machines, printers, and facsimile machines. In recent years, there has appeared a printing apparatus equipped with a wireless communication function, such as a wireless LAN function. The use of a wireless LAN eliminates the need of wiring of cables or the like, which makes it possible to use a printing apparatus e.g. from an external apparatus existing outside a building where the printing apparatus is installed.
Since the use of wireless LAN enables a printing apparatus to be accessed from an external apparatus without providing wiring, the printing apparatus can be accessed by a user who is not expected by an administrator. In order to prevent such unexpected access, user authentication using a WEP (wired equivalent privacy) key is performed when connecting to a printing apparatus by a wireless LAN, for example.
On the other hand, there also exists a wireless LAN access point (hereinafter simply referred to as “the wireless access point”) of a type configured to omit user authentication. When a wireless access point of this type is used, a wireless connection can be established in a so-called authentication-free fashion. This type of wireless access point will be referred to as the authentication-free wireless access point.
When a printing apparatus is wirelessly connected to an external apparatus, such as a personal computer (PC), by the authentication-free wireless access point, it is possible to access the printing apparatus from the PC to cause the printing apparatus to execute a print job or the like job. This means that the use of the authentication-free wireless access point can allow unauthorized use of the printing apparatus by an unspecified number of external apparatuses.
By the way, there has been proposed a method of restricting remote access to a printing apparatus, in which when an access request is received from an external apparatus, the printing apparatus extracts an IP address and a MAC address for identifying the external apparatus, and authorizes access from the external apparatus only when the IP address and the MAC address match an IP address and a MAC address registered in advance (see e.g. Japanese Paten Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-223307). Thus, in the method disclosed in Japanese Paten Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-223307, only external apparatuses approved by the administrator of the printing apparatus in advance are authorized to access the printing apparatus.
By the way, it is a common practice to prevent leakage of information on a result (e.g. a print product) obtained by the printing apparatus to a third party. To this end, when a print job request is received from an external apparatus, image data associated with a print job is temporarily stored in the printing apparatus. Then, a user performs an authentication operation by the printing apparatus, and when the user is authenticated, the print job is executed. This method is called secure printing.
As described hereinbefore, according to Japanese Paten Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-223307, only if identification information on an external apparatus is registered in advance in a printing apparatus, the external apparatus is authorized to access the printing apparatus. In the case of performing the advance registration, the registration is required to be approved by the administrator of the printing apparatus. Further, it is required to accurately register the identification information on the external apparatus in the printing apparatus so as to be authorized to access the printing apparatus.
Under the above-described circumstances, when an external apparatus, such as a PC, is installed anew in a business or an office, it is required to send identification information on the external apparatus to the administrator of the printing apparatus and request the administrator to register the same, and hence there is a problem in user friendliness. In addition, if registration processing cannot be performed e.g. due to absence of the administrator, the external apparatus is not authorized to access the printing apparatus until the registration is executed, which also causes a problem in user friendliness.